Video relay services (VRS) may be used so a hearing-impaired user can carry on conversations with a hearing-capable person. In such systems, the hearing-impaired user will call in to the VRS and get assigned to a translator. The hearing-impaired user will then use sign language to tell the translator the number to be called and the translator will place the call to the hearing-capable user. The translator will then wait for the call to be answered, state who the hearing-impaired user is that is calling, then begin the translation process between the two sides of the conversation.
Similarly, when a hearing-capable user makes a call to a hearing-impaired user, the translator must answer the call, usually very impersonally, then attempts to make the connection to the hearing-impaired user so the conversation between the two end parties can commence. Again, the hearing-impaired user has little control over the answering of the call and only gets involved after the translator has conversed with the hearing capable user.
These interventions by the translator in VRS systems make the calling process much less personal for both end parties and place the power and focus of the call management with the translator such that the hearing-impaired user is always very aware of the interpreter being the central point of any call.
Therefore, there is a need for methods and apparatuses that provide ways to place more of the call management control with the hearing-impaired user.